To celebrate its 80 years old Méribel is publishing a collector book !

150 pages recounting 80 years of history and development in Méribel.

Order it now !

More than a ski resort, Méribel is a valley. And not just any valley ! A valley that bids you welcome, Méribel drew its sense of hospitality from its unique geography.

The peaceful and pleasant Allues Valley, offers a wooded, snowy and unusually welcoming landscape. There is nothing to discourage the visitor from penetrating further when once he first enters the majesty of this wide valley... This is exactly what Scottish Major, Peter Lindsey, discovered in 1936 and why he founded the resort, installing the first ski lift in 1938, and designing the first hotels alongside renowned architects. The order of the day given by this British aristocrat was: that all buildings should be in harmony with the Savoyard style and that they should blend seamlessly with the magnificent landscape. Lindsey’s ambition was to create a residential village surrounded by nature. Since then, Méribel has never deviated from this guiding principal.

Right at the beginning of tourism, Méribel chose aesthetics over maximum density. Even during the 1970's, when larger apartment buildings were erected, they were built respecting the style determined by the founders, with sober and clean lines. Méribel thus possesses a real architectural and rural identity. The resort is spread over 15 villages covering more than 1,000 hectares, from les Allues to Méribel-Mottaret, and presents a unified architectural style. It has a permanent population of around 2,000 and a capacity of 36,000 beds. The obligation to use materials such as stone, wood and slate created a harmonious and attractive image. Even today, chalets undergoing renovation must conform to this style. As one of only 16 French resorts (out of a total of 300) labelled “Top of the French Alps”, the oldest of the 3 Valleys, offers the excellence and prestige of an emblematic tourist destination.

80 years later, Méribel still seeks to maintain architectural unity in total harmony with its mountain environment, endowing the resort with an authentic, harmonious and attractive image. Simplicity and discretion are the key words of all the constructions that have been and are built in Méribel.

The name Méribel comes from the Latin "mirare bellum" which means "the point from where the view is beautiful", the resort perfectly lives up to its name... Nestled in the heart of the biggest ski area in the world, Méribel is set in a postcard decor, surrounded by fir trees. Here elegance is synonymous with understated elegance and harmony. Buildings blend in with their surroundings, nature is preserved and the landscapes are breath-taking: a large white arena decorated with fir and larch trees, offering breath-taking panoramas of the surrounding peaks, the Tuéda nature reserve with its exhilarating beauty, fauna and flora both summer and winter...